Korean Tire CEO Cho Hyun-bum Appeals 3-Year Prison Sentence for Embezzlement

Cho Hyun-bum, the chairman of Hankook Tire & Technology (한국타이어), has filed an appeal against his three-year prison sentence handed down by the Seoul Central District Court on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust. The appeal was submitted on June 2, 2025, by Cho's legal team to the court's 23rd Criminal Division, presided over by Judge Oh Se-yong. Cho, the son of Hankook Tire's honorary chairman Cho Yang-rae and son-in-law of former President Lee Myung-bak, was convicted on May 29, 2025.
During the trial, the court found that Cho had misused corporate credit cards belonging to Hankook Tire and its affiliate, Hankook & Company, for personal expenses, amounting to approximately 580 million KRW. The court ruled that this constituted a breach of trust. Additionally, Cho was found guilty of purchasing or leasing five vehicles under the names of Hankook Tire subsidiaries for personal use and having a company driver escort his spouse, which also fell under breach of trust.
However, the court did not find sufficient evidence to support claims that Cho's dealings with MKT (Korean Precision Works), a subsidiary of Hankook Tire, resulted in a loss of 13.1 billion KRW, stating that the purpose and pricing of the transactions were not deemed unfair. Following the verdict, Cho expressed his intention to reflect on the sentence given by the judge.